PAPER SELECTED

Neosporosis in dogs: The first case report in the Czech Republic

Neospora caninum is a recently recognised cyst-forming coccidian parasite of dog and other animals. Until 1988 it was misdiagnosed as the closely related Toxoplasma gondii. Canine neosporosis often manifests as limb ataxia or paralysis in puppies and young dogs. It may also cause pneumonia, dermatitis, generalised neurological disease, and sudden collapse due to myocarditis in adult dogs. This paper presents the seroprevalence of antibodies to N. caninum in dogs from the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. It also describes clinical findings in a seropositive dog. Serum samples were collected from a total 80 dogs (49 male, 31 females) submitted to the Small Animal Clinic al the University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Bmo and were not suspected to suffer from neosporosis. They were of different breeds, and their age varied between 3 months to 11 years. The sera were analysed for presence of antibodies to N. caninum with an ELISA utilising N. caninum proteins incorporated into iscoms as antigen, and monoclonal antibody to canine IgG as conjugate. Of 80 dog sera tested, one (1.25 %) was positive in the ELISA, having an absorbance value 2.0 (the cut-off value for the ELISA is > 0.2). The positive serum originated from a six-year-old male German wirehaired pointer used for hunting. Ten months after the first sample was taken for serological examination, a second serum samples was collected from the same dog. The two sera were analysed with an indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) to detect antibodies to N. caninum. Both sera had a titer of 1 : 160 in the IFAT